A Brief Discussion on Court Cases related to Chap.

IIB of WBLR Act as also other Court Cases as

normally arises in the functioning of the ISU of L&LR Department.-By Dwaipayan Khasnabis,SROII

Before going into this discussion let us throw some light on the special status and scope of Chapter IIB of
WBLR Act.

Declaration as to Policy of State- It is hereby declared that this Act(WBLR Act) is for giving effect to the
policy of the State towards securing the principles specified in clauses (b) & (c) of Art.39 of Constitution
of India. This was inserted in the Act by WBLR Act by WBLR(Amendment) Act,1981. This is a declaratory
Section wherein the legislature declares that WBLR Act is for giving effect to the policy of the State
towards securing the principle specified in clauses (b) & (c) of the Art.39 Constitution of India.

Art.39(b) & (c) read thus:-

“The State shall, in particular, direct its policy towards securing-

(a)…………..

(b)that the ownership and control of the material resources of the community are so distributed as best
to subserve the common good.

(c) that the operation of the economic system does not result in the concentration of wealth and means
of production to the common detriment.

This policy is best implemented by application of ChapIIB of WBLR Act alongwith ChapVI of the Act.

Chapter IIB having Section 14J to 14Y was first introduced by WBLR(amendment) Act,1971. This was
then replaced by WBLR (Amendment) Act,1972 and that has taken retrospective effect from
15.2.71.Some Sections of the Chapter were amended by the WBLR(Amendment) Act,1974. Substantial
amendments have been made to various subsections of Chap.IIB by the WBLR(Amendment) Act of 1981
and Sec.14Z has been added. Finally, several provisions have also been amended by WBLR(3 rd
Amendment) Act,1986, which came into force with effect from 12.5.89.

Submission of Return of land to be furnished by every raiyat owning land in excess as per provision of
Sec.14T(1)/14T(2).

Originally, the raiyat had to furnish Return of land in Form 7A and the last date of submission was
31.7.71 as per Rule 14C of WBLR Rules. Such description of land related to only agricultural land.

Pursuant to WBLR(Amendment) Act, 1981 and pursuant to change of definition of land as in Sec.2(7) as
also pursuant to enforcement of Sec.3A of WBLR(Amendment) act,1981 and finalized by the
WBLR(Amendment) Act,1986, Rule 14C of WBLR Rules was amended vide Notification No.416-L.Ref
dtd.13.6.88 and provision for direction of filing of fresh return in Form 7AA was inserted in the Rules.
Form 7AA includes particulars for all categories of land vide its inclusion of Column under sub-head
classification.
Following submission of such Return or out of own motion as per provision of Sec.14T(3), R.O can,
subject to statutory bar as provided by Sec.14J in respect of “vacant land” under UL(C&R) Act,1976,
proceed to determine the ceiling of retainable land of a raiyat and the following chronological steps may
be followed:

a) Notice to the assessee raiyat for initiating proceeding u/s 14T(3) of WBLR Act as per procedure
laid down in Rule 14C of WBLR Rules and the preamble of the order for initiating such
proceeding be preferably sent.
b) Computation of total land of the raiyat as on the date when family u/s 14k(C) is being
determined and such computation shall take into account all land(s) as transferred since 7.8.69
c) Computation of retainable land as provided by Sec.14M after taking into consideration the fact
of irrigated/non-irrigated as provided by Sec.14N of the Act.
d) Declaration of ceiling surplus land as vested to the State as per provision of Sec.14S of WBLR
Act.
e) Taking possession of such vested land as per provision of Sec.14T(3) of the Act.

Thus, Revenue Officer by his/her order in a quasi-judicial proceeding is empowered to vest ceiling
surplus land of raiyats and this action of Revenue Officer must have the support of Constitutional
provisions.

Now let us have a short view of such provisions.

Constitutional Effect
Provision
Art.31A Relates to saving of laws providing for acquisition of estate, etc. The object of
the Article is to provide that no law(past or future) affecting rights of any
proprietor or intermediate-holder in any estate shall be void on the ground
that it is inconsistent with any of the fundamental rights included in Part-III of
the Constitution. That is to say that no such law would be liable to attack on
the ground that no compensation or illusory compensation has been provided
for or that there is no public purpose.
WBEA act as also WBLR Act have the shield of Constitution.

Art.31B Validation of certain Acts & Regulations specified in the Ninth Schedule,
though the compensation provided was not real or adequate.
WBEA Act and WBLR Act is included in Ninth Schedule.Thus the
constitutionality of these protected Acts cannot be challenged except on the
Art.31C grounde of legislative competence.

Notwithstanding anything contained in Art.13, no law giving effect to the policy

of the State towards securing all or any of the principles laid down in Part-IV
of the Constitution shall be deemed to be void on the ground that it is
inconsistent with or take away or abridges any of the rights conferred by Art.14
and 19
The underlined portion was added by the 42 nd Amendment, 1976 with object
of shielding all Directive Principles of Part-IV of the Constitution from the
 Fundamental Rights as in Part III,viz,Art.14,19,31,etc. This was, however,
declared ultravires by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Minerva Mills case,
however, the principles laid down in Art.39(b), (c) continued to have the
protective shield.
Thus the coverage of an Act under Art.31A includes, besides others, for
acquisition of surplus land.

Art.300A No person shall be deprived of his property save by authority of law. This
Constitutional Right implies that no deprivation can be made without recourse
to legal proceedings, i.e, by law or under a law made by competent legislature.
Till now the vires of some Sections of Chap IIB vis-à-vis definition of land and
method of compensation as in Sec.14V of the WBLR Act has not been finally
decided by Hon’ble Supreme Court in relation to this Constitutional Right.

Important Court Cases relating to Chap.IIB

The Provisions of Chapter IIB as inserted by the WBLR (Amendment) Act, 1971 and which provided for
fixation of ceiling on agricultural land and matters incidental thereto have been upheld by Hon’ble
Supreme Court in Sasankasekhar Maity & Ors.-vs- Union of India & others.( Supreme Court Original
Jurisdiction, WP Nos.11-114,201,208,738,885 and 994 of 1979)

Later the WBLR(Amendment) Act(s) of 1981 and 1986 were severally challenged particularly since the
definition of land u/s 2(7) of WBLR Act underwent change and “land” included all land(s). Paschimbanga
Rajya Bhumijibi Krishak Sangha particularly agitated the issue and on 7/5/92, Ld.Single Bench of
Calcutta High Court in Matter No.1367/87 upheld the vires of Amendment Act of 1981 but declared
Sections 4(4),14T(5),14SS,17(2) as ultra vires. Several Appeals were filed by aggrieved parties including
State of W.B and Hon’ble Division Bench of J.Satyabrata Sinha and J.Satya Narayan Chakraborty disposed
the matter(s) in AFO 400/92 and several Sections as declared ultravires by Ld.Single Bench, particularly
Sec.14T(5) which had in the meantime already been upheld in Bibhuti Bhusan Bankura-vs- State of W.B,
were declared intravires. Though it is to state that the status of Sec.4(4),17(2) of the Act were not
further elevated beyond what Hon’ble Single Bench had said. However, the Division Bench held that
Sec.14V vis-à-vis the definition of land as contained in Sec.2(7) and Sec3A(3) as ultra-vires Article 300A
of the Constitution of India. Several SLP(Special Leave Petitions) have been filed and are still pending
before the Hon’ble Apex Court and as per latest order has been referred to 9 Judge Bench. It is to iterate
that in terms of the interim order(s) as passed in the pending SLPs, the Hon’ble Supreme Court has held
that, only in respect of the original applicants before the Hon’ble High Court, the State of W.B is barred
from executing vesting order and/or creating third party interest.
The Regular matters concerning Civil Courts/Tribunals/High Court/Supreme Court as normally to be
handled by members of WSLRS Gr-I and procedures thereof:

Sub-divisional Courts/District Courts:

Title Suits may be filed at Civil Court (Jr.Division) at various Sub-Divisions by individual litigants
impleading RO/BLLRO/ Collector as defendant. As soon as such suits are filed, a copy is normally served
to Collector who through Revenue Munsikhana Section may arrange for engagement of Government
Pleader to defend State and may inform such engagement to BLLRO together with copy of plaint.
Parallely, we at Block, Sub-division law cell /District law cell may also being informed via service of the
plaint about the occurrence of the suit, may cause for attending the Ld. Government Pleader’s office at
the respective Sub-division/District Court and may Ld.GP in turn may assign the suit to certain AGP for
defending State,i.e, State being represented by Collector/BLLRO/RO, etc.

Once GP/AGP has been fixed, the primary duty of our officers entrusted with the particular Court Case is
to prepare B/H(Brief History), S/F(Statement of Facts) in the matter and forward the same to him/her
who in turn based on such input(s) would prepare W.S(Written Statement) to be submitted before
Hon’ble Court if so directed.

In preparing the S/F, we need to rely on records and bring to the knowledge of Ld.Civil Court such
recorded status and the basis thereof.

Points to remember while preparing BV/H, S/F:

i) Sec.57B(2) of WBEA Act bars the jurisdiction of Ld.Civil Court in matters relating to
retention, etc…..of any land as per provision of Sec.6 of WBEA Act.
ii) Sec.14X of WBLR Act bars the jurisdiction of Ld.Civil Court in matters relating to ChapIIB of
WBLR Act
iii) Sec.51 C(2) of WBLR Act bars the jurisdiction of Ld. Civil Court in matters relating to any
entry in ROR and in matters relating to alteration/ modification of ROR.
iv) Ever since the promulgation of WBLRTT Act,1997, Ld.Tribunal as per provision of sec.6 of
such Act would adjudicate the matters relating to inaction/non-action of any authority
under the WBLR Act/WBEA Act

However, it is to be remembered that the Ld.Civil Court is the competent Court to adjudicate matters
relating to title of a particular person over any land and if such order/decree of Ld.Civil Court in respect
of private property is placed before Revenue Officer for featuring in ROR, then RO may consider such
order/decree under the appropriate Section of Sec.51/Sec.50 and WBLR Act lays no bar on such
correction of ROR on the basis of decree/order of Ld.Civil Court; on the contrary Sec.14 of WBLR Act
permits the partition of any land on the basis of such order/decree.

However, if the Ld.Civil Court despite our W.S/oral submission in line with i),ii),iii) and iv) or exparte
passes any order which causes correction of Collector’s Khatian or for divesting of land vested u/s 4 & 5
of WBEA Act or ceiling surplus land under WBLR & WBEA Act, we may immediately prefer appeal before
the Addl. District Judge primarily on points i) & ii) set earlier, amongst other points, as may be incidental
to each case. Such appeals are registered as Title Appeals(TA).

The filing of Appeal, etc. are normally dealt with the Law Cell at each DLLRO and the appeals need to be
filed within 60 days of order in Title Suit.

Besides these, Civil Courts at District level are also empowered by the Act (WBEA Act) to hear and
dispose of two more kinds of Appeals, viz;

a) Appeal as provided by Sec.44(3) of WBEA Act, i.e, matters that relate to appeals arising out of
order of ASO u/s 44(2a) of the Act. Such appeals are heard bt the Addl. District Judge.
b) EA Tribunal(s) constituted as per provision of WBEA Act hear appeals that are preferred against
order(s) as passed u/s 5A of WBEA Act, i.e, in respect of order(s) dealing with transfer(s)
between 5.5.563 and 15.4.55/14.4.56 as the case may be.

Matters at Tribunal :(Constituted as per provision of Art.323 of Constitution of India)

i)Land Reforms & Tenancy Tribunal:

The types of Application at the Hon’ble LRTT are of the following types:

i) O.A,i.e, Original Application- These may be filed before the Ld.Tribunal as per provision of
Sec.6 of the WBLRTT Act,1997 and such applications arise out of non-action/inaction of the
empowered authorities under the specified Act(s) as in Sec.2(r) of the WBLRTT Act.
ii) M.A(Miscellaneous Application): Such Applications normally arise out of O.As and may be
filed for various reasons, viz;
a) For substitution of the Petitioners/Respondents in Original Application
b) For filing supplementary application in connection with the original application
c) For recalling the order as passed in OA
d) For non-action on the part of disposing authority as directed by the Tribunal in the OA
iii) TA(Transferred Application): All Writ Petitions(CO/CR,etc) as was filed before the Single
Bench of Hon’ble High Court in respect of matter(s) relating to the specified Act(s) of the
WBLRTT Act,1997 stood transferred to the WBLRTT from the date as appointed u/s 6 of the
WBLRTT Act and interim order(s) if any, in such transferred Applications stand vacated on
the expiry of 12 weeks from such date.

In respect of all these applications, we are entrusted with the duty of preparing B/H and/or S/F in
quadruplicate and send the same to Ld. Government Representatives at the Tribunal. Besides, we also
need to send such reports, records to the Tribunal as directed by the Bench and conveyed by Ld.GRs.

ii)West Bengal Administrative Tribunal:

This Tribunal is empowered to look into issues of non-action/inaction in matters relating to service
conditions of employees of all categories of the Govt. of West Bengal. Here also we need to respond to
directions of Bench and/or prepare B/H and/or S/F in OAs/MAs as have been filed and do all
correspondences through Ld.Departmental Representatives as are posted at WBAT.

iii)National Green Tribunal(Eastern Bench):

OAs in respect of environmental issues are filed before this Tribunal and we , if impleaded as
respondent, need to contest the Applications through our Ld.Adv.as engaged by Ld. Legal
Remembrancer, West Bengal. As of now, in this Tribunal, the most important matters that concern us
are the issues related to Brick Fields because in cases of Brick Fields vide notification of WBPCB, DLLROs
are empowered to issue Consent to establish/Consent to Operate and are also integral part of the
Screening & Scrutiny Committee as formed to regulate issues of Brick Fields.

Besides these, most commonly involved Tribunals in our regular working, there may be occasions to
contest/defend matters at Wakf Tribunal. Information Commission, Human Rights Commission,
Commission for Backward Classes, etc.

At the Hon’ble High Court writ Petitions may be filed before the Appellate Side or Original Side
depending on whether the Address of the Petitioners fall within the Appellate Jurisdiction or Original
Jurisdiction of Calcutta high Court respectively.

The primary difference in respect of the State Respondent/Petitioners in this respect is in the procedure
of engagement of State Advocate. In case of petition filed before the Original Jurisdiction, the
engagement of State Advocate is dealt with by the office of Ld.AOR,W.B while for petitions filed before
the Appellate Side, the engagement of State Advocate is dealt with by the office of Ld.Legal
Remembrancer, W.B.

Of the various types of cases, the most frequent types that are needed to be dealt with are:

a) W.P(Writ Petition): These may be filed before the Ld.Single Bench in respect of matters relating
to MM(D&R) Act and/or in respect of other Act(s) also if the Petitioners seek relief in the form of
issuance of Writs(Certiorari, Prohibition,Mandamus,etc.)
b) WPLRT: These are Writ Petitions filed before the Hon’ble Division Bench of High Court by the
Petitioners who are aggrieved with the judgement of LRTT as passed in OA/TA, etc.; there is no
time limit for filing these Writs.
c) WPST: These are Writ Petitions filed before the Hon’ble Division Bench of High Court by the
Petitioners who are aggrieved with the judgement of WBAT as passed in OA, MA, etc.; here also
there is no time limit.
d) SA: Second Appeal; these arise out of judgement of Ld.Addl.District Judge in Title Appeals.
e) CAN: These are normally Civil Applications filed in connection with any already filed W.P/
WPLRT/SA, etc., and such applications are normally filed to pray for any interim relief pending
the disposal of the petition in relation to which such CAN has been filed.
f) FMA-FMAT(Memo of First Appeal-Admission of Civil Appeal from Order): These are appeals filed
before the Hon,ble Division Bench of High Court being aggrieved by the order of Hon’ble Single
Bench(Appellate Side; in case of Original Side-MAT)
g) CPAN-i)Contempt Application(Appellate Side)(ii) CC-Contempt of Court Cases(Original side)
h) RVW-Review Petitions, these are filed seeking review/recalling of any order as passed by
Hon’ble High Court.

As per WBLR Manual’91, the Law-Cell of DLLRO is a body constituted and such law-cell is entrusted
with duties of engagement of State Advocate, filing of appeals, etc; but ROs at Block as also BLLROs
are required to maintain close4 liaison with the district law-cell who in turn need to keep close
liaison with the law-cell at Directorate.

In respect of all various types of appeals that are filed at various levels, officers should keep
themselves acquainted with the provision of Sec.5 of Limitation Act,1963 and/or Sec.10 of WBLRTT
Act,1997, etc., because the period(s) of limitation in respect of filing of various appeals/review,
etc.are detailed in such sections. We may need to contest the prayers for condonation of delay to
appeal, if appeal is preferred by individual petitioner or may also need to describe the reasons for
delay, if delay is caused in preferring appeal on our part.

Besides, all these issues at various Courts, there may be occasions to go to Hon’ble Supreme Court
also in connection with Appeals as arise from the order(s) of Division Bench of Hon’ble High Court.